`No Anomalies` Seen As Normal Summer Yields To Normal Fall

Be advised, newcomers to summer in the subtropics: This was an easy one.

Today marks the first day of fall, and the summer left behind was remarkably devoid of hotter-than-hot days.

The temperature never rose above 94 degrees at the National Weather Service station at Palm Beach International Airport, said weather specialist Gordon McCann. And daily temperatures through June, July and August were just about perfectly average.

``Basically, it`s been normal for us,`` McCann said.

Palm Beach County`s low temperatures hit 70 in early June, and 72 was the lowest temperature for the month of August.

So what`s to be expected with fall?

``No major anomalies,`` predicted Andy Stern of the National Weather Service in Coral Gables.

Translation: The norm will be the norm, which is roughly how Stern described Summer 1988 in South Florida.

However, the September days in Palm Beach County have been running 2 to 4 degrees above the norm, McCann said. Less than average rainfall for the month is to blame for the warmer weather, he said.

But things should be cooling down.

The average daily temperature -- the high and low averaged out -- should be 80 degrees by Sept. 30; 75 by Halloween; 71 by Thanksgiving; and 67 when fall slips into winter on Dec. 21, according to the National Weather Service.

The latest 90-day extended outlook -- covering September through November -- predicts nothing out of the ordinary; no heat waves or unusual amounts of rain.

``No major anomalies,`` Stern repeated.

While Palm Beach County wasn`t breaking records, Broward County was. July brought one record breaker when the temperature for July 25 hit bottom at 69 degrees, an all-time low for that date.

The average temperature at the weather station in West Palm Beach was 81 degrees in June, 81.2 degrees in July and 82.5 degrees in August.

The 11.38 inches of rain that pummeled Palm Beach International Airport last month made it the third-wettest August on record, the National Weather Service said. Last month`s rainfall was about double the average 5.78 inches for August, and much of it drenched the area in a heavy rain on Aug. 20.

Broward County got its heaviest 24-hour rainfall for the month on Aug. 8, when much of the western area of the county was left awash by 2 inches of rain. Rain for the month totaled 7.9 inches, 1.09 inches above normal.

September is shaping up to be a fairly typical September, with no records set as of Wednesday.

The high temperature for September in Palm Beach County is 94 degrees and the low is recorded at 74 degrees.